Habemus papam! The selection of Cardinal Robert F. Prevost as the person who’ll succeed Pope Francis as the leader of the Catholic church has been a closely-followed process, complete with a live smoke cam from MSNBC and crowds gathered in Vatican City. In accordance with Catholic tradition, a nearly identical conclave occurred in 2013 following the death of Pope Benedict XVI — and Saturday Night Live marked the moment with a sketch starring Kevin Hart as the pontiff pick that no one saw coming.
In SNL‘s “New Pope” sketch, Wolf Blitzer (Season 38 cast member Jason Sudeikis) opens his CNN show, The Situation Room, with an update on the 2013 conclave. A reporter (Cecily Strong) who’s standing in front of The Vatican tells Blitzer about the front-runner, a Ghanian Cardinal named Peter Turkson (Kenan Thompson). Then, the telltale billow of white smoke from the Sistine Chapel signals that a new pope has been chosen.
RELATED: Father Guido Sarducci Named Himself the Pope in This Classic SNL Bit
Kevin Hart starred in “New Pope” during his first SNL hosting stint
Blitzer declares that “whoever they choose, they’ll need to be a fresh face, capable moving this church past these scandals into the 21st century.” The red-robed Cardinals then file out onto the balcony loggia (kudos to SNL‘s set designers for replicating every detail of the real balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, as seen in the NBC News livestream on May 8, 2025).
It’s immediately clear the conclave certainly chose a fresh face: “The new pope is 9-year-old Oscar nominee Quvenzhané Wallis,” the reporter announces, as the smiling actress emerges. She’s played by Hart, who’s dressed in a purple sequined gown similar to her Academy Award dress from that same year when she earned an Academy Award nom for Beasts of the Southern Wild. Hart’s Wallis is also now wearing a tiny pope’s hat.
“And what is the new pope doing?” Blitzer asks.
RELATED: Conclave: Cast & Characters of Edward Berger’s Vatican Thriller, Explained
“Quvenzhané is lifting her arms in her signature ‘muscle man’ pose,” the reporter explains, a reference to Wallis’s scenes in Beasts. Hart’s winning smile is almost as cute as Wallis, who’s now 21, was at the time. Everyone is thrilled by the revolutionary papal announcement…everyone, that is, except presumed frontrunner Peter Turkson (Thompson), who visibly glowers at the scene.
“It appears that Pope Quvenzhané is doing the Dougie, and Turkson is loving it,” the reporter updates. And it’s true: No one can stay mad at the new, extremely cute pope for long, and he breaks into a grin. But things get sad when the retired Pope Benedict (Fred Armisen) tries to compete for cuteness, and it simply can’t be done.
“The new pope is riding a cardinal like a horsie,” the reporter narrates, as we see it’s true.
While the real Quvenzhané Wallis was never in the running to become the next Pope, she is all grown up now and flourishing in TV and film roles, including a cast role in the two-season series Swagger, and more recently, the 2024 movie Breathe.
Watch Saturday Night Live’s “New Pope” sketch above, and stream all 50 seasons of Saturday Night Live anytime.
